Don't Feed the Professor! - Chapter 79

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Anyway, don’t be disappointed if I suddenly go quiet, all right?”
Kwon Tae-hyun tapped my shoulder playfully.
“Disappointed? Well, it’s good you’re back. You’ll be at the Administrative Office for a while, then?”
“That’s right. Are you listening well in lectures? Have you picked up anything useful?”
“Ah, the lectures…….”
I couldn’t answer readily.
Just before course registration, I’d promised Kwon Tae-hyun that if I learned anything about Mallo, I’d provide the information exclusively.
I’d written him a letter afterward, but never managed to deliver it. At the time I’d discovered nothing, and now…….
“Hmm……, well…….”
Kwon Tae-hyun laughed at my hesitation.
“What’s this? You’ve already gotten attached, so you can’t rat on him?”
“That’s not it.”
I meant it. Attachment or not, Mallo hardly seemed like the type to care if I’d shared some gossip with Kwon Tae-hyun.
The real problem was I genuinely had no idea what information I could offer.
What do I actually know about Mallo?
‘Well…….’
That he looks like he stepped out of a classical painting, loves loud sports cars, prefers warmth over hating the cold, is always smiling but not actually very kind?
What good would telling Kwon Tae-hyun any of that do.
“I really don’t have much useful information yet.”
“Fair enough. Don’t rush it. It’s not an easy task.”
I was about to exchange pleasantries and leave when something suddenly occurred to me.
“By the way, do you know if anyone was in the 3rd Floor Equipment Room of the Female Dormitory?”
Kwon Tae-hyun’s mouth fell open at that.
It was an odd expression—almost like he was sneering at someone.
But at whom?
“……Sir?”
“Oh, my apologies. You’re saying someone was hiding there like a rat?”
I never said anything about hiding.
“They’d actually set up a dwelling there. I only saw their back, but……, do you know anything about it?”
Kwon Tae-hyun’s eyes rolled thoughtfully before he spoke.
“I could make a guess……. In truth, it’s not terribly surprising. The Fortress attracts all sorts of people. I’d like to look into it myself, but as you know, the female dormitory has quite a bit of restricted access.”
“That makes sense. So…….”
“But something just occurred to me.”
“……?”
“Why would someone go to the trouble of hiding in such a cramped, high-risk place in this sprawling school?”
“Well……, maybe they had business with whoever lives there?”
“But what business would require them to be physically that close? It’s already been three months since the semester started, and they’ve been just watching without ever making direct contact with the resident. Why?”
‘Physically that close…….’
He had a point. Why would it have to be the 3rd Floor Equipment Room?
Sending texts while pretending to be a scarecrow could be done from anywhere. Timing it that way and watching from such a spot is something only an idiot would do.
Yet with that kind of proximity, all Kang Woo-jin had done so far was…….
“Ah.”
Why didn’t I think of that sooner.
“……I should get going. I have a lecture.”
I turned away from Kwon Tae-hyun and hurried off, quickly pulling out my phone to access the Hotline.
On the second day, someone had left the Hotline access code on my door. I’d even heard the faint sound of a man’s laugh.
At first I’d suspected K, later even Bibi, but thinking about it now, only Kang Woo-jin could have done something like that.
If I were Kang Woo-jin, and for whatever reason I’d lured someone into the Hotline, I’d definitely want to confirm they’d entered.
When I first logged in, there were five people online.
‘AttentionToDetail’, ‘TheresPeopleOn12thFloor’, ‘Bibi’, ‘CartCollector’, and ’48’.
I tapped through the chat history. Excluding Momo, Lee Ha-young, and Bibi, that left two people.
Conveniently, the two with the most distinctive speech patterns.
‘I need to make sure they don’t catch on for a while longer.’
If they thought they were being watched, they’d be on their guard. And there was one more thing.
「Personality Transfer: Focused on Clinical Cases」
Whatever the reason, on that night when the Aether was unstable, Kang Woo-jin had tried to give me this book.
Using the serial number he’d provided, I’d found two copies.
The one with the Shamanic Technique had enabled me to communicate with Priya, so that wasn’t the right one.
Then the book Kang Woo-jin wanted me to read was this one: Personality Transfer.
‘I was planning to return it right away because it felt off…….’
Maybe I could figure out Kang Woo-jin’s intentions from this. And perhaps something about the Cheongsin Truth Research Society as well.
I feel like I’m playing actual detective. Though if this were really just a game, I wouldn’t have to struggle like this.
When I arrived at Lecture Building A, I tried to take the elevator as usual.
Just then, a cold hand shot out from behind and caught mine before I could react.
“Professor?!”
He laughed when our eyes met, then brazenly pulled me closer and said:
“Let’s do a site visit.”
* * *
The rooftop of the building loomed against a grey sky, dizzying in its height.
Empty avenues divided the landscape into a grid, while on the far block a massive tower crane was stacking the steel framework skyward.
A steel beam hanging from the crane’s hook slowly approached the structure’s peak. A sharp creak—the cables supporting it rippled through the air.
“……You’re really sure this is okay?”
I wasn’t asking about my situation.
Though I was perched on the outer wall of a high-rise without a railing, I clearly wouldn’t have climbed up if I were afraid of heights.
But watching that massive crane construct the high-rise before my eyes made reality feel oddly muted.
It felt as though one poke would reduce everything to toys crashing down—unrealistic as that was.
“It’s more solid than it looks. Everything in the Fortress is.”
Mallo spoke while handing me something in a cup. A Goldilocks Strawberry Smoothie.
“You always give me something sweet, don’t you, Professor?”
I sipped it, and Mallo answered flatly.
“You like it.”
“……Well, yes. But this site visit—is this it? A construction site?”
I didn’t even know where in the Fortress this was.
As always, we’d driven across a bridge and taken an elevator from some underground parking, and here we were.
To anyone else, it would look like the heart of a major city—except for the complete absence of people, not even an ant in sight.
“It’s an introduction to architecture, I suppose.”
“Isn’t that a bit abrupt?”
“You seem to like high places.”
“……That wasn’t intentional, you know.”
I smirked, remembering the incident at the Casino Balcony.
Mallo laughed playfully.
“I just wanted to show you how the Fortress is made.”
Made?
I turned my gaze back to the crane and steel framework—the structure being built slowly, piece by piece.
“Until now, I’ve struggled to maintain balance. There’s so much I want to teach you, but at my pace you’d be crushed.”
“Crus…… what?”
“Still, watching from the sidelines like this isn’t so bad. They say knowledge you discover yourself stays with you longer anyway.”
“That doesn’t apply to me. I have perfect memory.”
“And besides, we can talk like this. Now that I think about it, there are a lot of good things about this approach.”
He added this without looking at me, speaking faster than usual somehow.
‘What, just say what you want to say.’ I glanced at Mallo’s profile and asked:
“But isn’t the weather a bit overcast?”
“The weather?”
“We came all this way for a site visit, and it’s a shame the sky’s so grey.”
Mallo’s gaze turned upward.
“Is it.”
He raised his arm and brushed the grey sky with his palm.
Whether it was just my imagination or not, the sky between the buildings—so overcast a moment before—seemed to shift slightly red.
As Mallo repeated the gesture several times, thin light began seeping through the dark clouds.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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